small lots to retail dealers, and from tliem 

 to coiisiuuers. 



I have prepared some tigures, showing 

 the relative cost of sliii>meiit from San 

 Dieffo to New York, by rail, from .San 

 Francisco, of comb honey in cases welsh- 

 ing 75 lbs. gross, or 56 lbs. net; and extract- 

 ed or strained honey in casks, weighing 300 

 lbs. gross, or 380 lbs. net, by water round 

 Cape Horn. 



At these weights, 1 cask will equal 5 

 cases, and the calculations are as follows: 



One cask costs here f 2 00 



Freight from San Uiegoto New York, by water, 



300 lbs. <fS V4 cts 4 50 



Total cost, packing and freight $ tj iiO 



Cost per pound of net honey, 2 32-100 cents. 

 Five cases, with nails and paper, 26 cts. each — ^i 1 30 

 Twenty section boxes with nails, at lie. each. . . 2 20 

 Freight on ;i50 lbs., gross weight, at 3c 10 50 



Total cost of packages and freight ?U 00 



Cost per pound of net honey, 5 cts. Dif- 

 ference in cost and freight per pound, 2 

 fj8-100 cts. Besides this, is the labor of 

 making section bo.xes and packing cases, 

 packing the honey, and tlie freight on 50 

 lbs., extra dead weight, from San Diego to 

 and from the apiary. 



The prices of honey, quoted in the Amer- 

 ICAX Bkk Jouknai., for January, 1878, in 

 New York, Cincinnati and Chicago, aver- 

 aged 15c. for comb and lUc. tor extracted.— 

 AVe cannot expect to realize here, next 

 summer, more than 8c. for comb and 5c. for 

 extracted; the difference in cost of pre- 

 paring the two kinds will be a large part of 

 the difference in these prices. 



This whole argument, so far, is ba.sed 

 on bees making as many pounds of comb as 

 of extracted honey, but the experience of 

 all who have used the extractor proves that 

 the yield is very largely increased by it. if 

 it is only increased .50 per cent, it would, no 

 doubt, pay better than producing comb 

 honey. 



But there is another side to the question 

 that has not been niucii discussed: Tiie 

 advantage of making strained honey and 

 wax for sale. 



On this subject I have the opinion of Mr. 

 Rufus Morgan, in the letter quoted from 

 above. He says: 



" Now, in your section ( and I am open to evidence 

 to the contrary) the opinion I have always held is, 

 that the true protlt of tne apiary is from wax, the 

 honey to pay expenses. 



" 1 could manage four times as many hives run for 

 wax as for comb honey, and seven or eight times as 

 many as run with the extractor." 



" Now let us see how we can make out 

 the case. Suppose the busy season tor the 

 production of surplus honey to last fifty 

 days. My observation in tins country is 

 that witli Harbison hives, fitted with main 

 frames in the top, instead of section boxes. 

 Two, good, experienced men can extract, by 

 hard work, about 2 casks, of !i80 lbs. net, 

 each, per day. This would be, say, the 

 yield of 4 good average hives, allowing 

 them to produce .50 per cent, more than they 

 would of comb honey. In the season of 

 .50 days, by steady work, the 2 men could 

 attend to 200 hives, or an average of 100 

 hives to each man. Now, to carry out Mr. 

 Morgan's estimate, the 2 men could take 

 out comb honey from 400 hives, and this is 



our experience al.so. From liow many they 

 could simply cut out the honey, put it into 

 a strainer, barrel the honey and lay aside 

 the wax to be tried out in a more leisure 

 .season, I cannot say; but do not tiiink his 

 estimate of 800 hives an extravagant one, as 

 it would only require IG hives per day to 

 each man. Now, comb honey will yield 

 troni 8 to 10 per cent, of wax. which is 

 worth 25 cents per lb. here, or if bleaclied, a 

 very simple process, nearly double that 

 price. The bleaching consists in simply 

 exposing the yellow wax to the sun in a 

 long tin trough, slightly inclined so that it 

 will melt and run down slowly, and it is 

 Avorth, I understand, 48 cents per pound in 

 New York. 



In the ))resent condition of the honey 

 business, the low x^rices we can realize here, 

 and the high price of labor, we must run 

 our apiaries as cheaply as possible. If a 

 man has only 100 hives, he can realize more 

 honey, and make more money by extracting 

 than by straining, or, in my opinion, than 

 he can make by producing comb honey. If, 

 however, he has 400 hives, I believe he can 

 make more money by simply straining and 

 selling the honey and wax than in any 

 other way, because he can do all the work 

 himself, without hiring any help. 



It is well known that the cheaper an arti- 

 cle is sold, the greater the demand. In a 

 letter from a firm in Liverpool, they told 

 me that if we could put our strained honey 

 on the market at 8 cents per lb., the demand 

 would be unlimited. It costs about 2 cents 

 per lb. from here to Liverpool, including 

 all expenses. If, during the coming fall, 

 ships should be loaded from here to Liver- 

 pool with wheat, for our grain crop 

 promises to be large enough to justify tliis, 

 we could send honey much cheaper, which 

 would leave us a fair price. Good, strained 

 honey is worth now, from 10 to 12 cts. per 

 lb. in Liverpool. 



From all the above facts and arguments 

 I draw the conclusion that our future pros- 

 perity as honey producers depends on our 

 making only as much comb honej' as will 

 supply the Pacific coast, and by economiz- 

 ing in labor, materials and freights, ship 

 direct to New Y'ork and Europe a fine, pure 

 article of strained honey, wiiich will sell 

 low enough to create a large demand, and 

 at the same time afford us a good price for 

 production. The former prejudice against 

 candied honey has given way, as I foretold 

 a year ago it would, in view of the fact that 

 oiily perfectly pure honey will candy. Our 

 sumac honey, which all experienced per- 

 sons prefer to any other, and which forms a 

 large proportion of our proJuction, candies 

 soon after being barreled, and will, I think, 

 become the favorite in tlie market. I am 

 corresponding with parties in the east and 

 in Europe, and will give the information to 

 the Association soon. 



Since writing the above, I have received 

 a long and very interesting letter from 

 Thurber & Co., of New Y'ork, in regai'd to 

 the style of putting up comb lioney for the 

 eastern inarKet. We may be able, before 

 the commencement of the coming season, 

 to obtain such information and make such 

 arrangements as to enable our apiarists to 

 conform to the present demand, and in this 



